A southbound produce train gets a yellow just outside Oakville: Another shot from a different angle. This part of the train is in a daylighted tunnel area known as the Wedding Cake.
I love those signals. Very envious; the yellow aspect on my Tomar signals is barely visible (although the reds and greens are fine). Jamie
The nice thing about rolling your own is you have complete control over every aspect (pun not intended) of the signal - and if there's something you don't like, you can easily fix it. I have one of the original signals with a strange looking lower red, and although I'm not particularly happy about having to replace that LED will be able to do so with no fear. And because of the way I mounted them, the signal will come out fairly easily. Thanks, Jamie! (And Jerry!)
Nice to see the yellow. I was beginning to think the freights had Amtrak priority! Awesome layout and thanks for the motivational pictures. Keep building and moving America! dave t
I've seen nothing on BLMA's 3 unit spines... Here's a bare table move I caught this morning: They appear to be flying off the shelves as fast as the five unit model did...I am pleased to report they are for all intents and purposes the same with the important exception of an assembled upright hitch. Of course one DOES need to tweak them before putting into service. It seems there is always the slightly tight truck that needs some gentle reaming, but these trucks roll better than do the reefers...another masterpiece from Craig!
Looks good jim! I got my four units in the mail yesterday and I like them a lot. I missed out on the five unit models, so this is my first look at them. They look even better on your finished layout.
What???? You are way, way ahead of me! Almost all of my scenery is of the very, very basic thrown together variety until I get a chance to do a more thorough job. Not to mention roads, buildings, etc. In the areas of scenery and fascia/room quality I don't expect I'll ever catch up. Daryl
Yabbut - virtually all my scenery is also still very basic - and I have no town area to do (yet, anyway) streets and such. Don't sell yourself short, Daryl.
It's like a fight between Michelangelo and da Vinci. One of you is gonna have to cut off an ear to win this... ;-)
What is this scenery stuff you guys are talking about? I have seen it mentioned on quite a few of these forums. Jamie
Hey, fella, you're no slouch in the area either - doesn't matter if it's only the one scene! Ya gotta start somewheres... Can't hear worth a hoot anyways, Doug, might as well lose one... The Oakville Sub looks as finished as it does because I made the conscious decision to have as close to a finished layout as I could as soon as I could. So for the casual viewer, it looks complete. But I know where the warts are...true, I have finely finished a few areas and typically those areas are the ones that get photoed more because of that...but there is a TON more to be done - and all sorts of little projects along the way as well. Now, Daryl managed to get all his wheelsets changed out, but I need a couple hundred yet. If Matt ever gets that container in, maybe I can get THAT finished... And Daryl has resistored all his cars, a little chore I have yet to begin. Fairly inexpensive, too, but I've got I think about three times as many cars as he does... I could go on, but in MY mind, Daryl is a lot closer than he thinks!
Oh, I forgot... BALLAST!!! Do you know how much ballasting I have to do yet??? I'd easily trade working on wheel sets for ballasting. Ballasting is tedious, time consuming work and I have only half the mainline done and none of the yards and secondary track done. Just thinking about all that ballasting makes me want to cut my ear off!!! Daryl
I like this debate (or is it "one upsmanship" of who is 'further behind'?)! It's like everytime someone tells me to "go slow - you don't want to finish too soon". I have to remind them that there is a whole lot of "blank space" that I just don't take too many pictures of.
Oh, and Daryl - just rewatched your YouTube about adding resistors to FV wheelsets, yesterday, but decided to do the passenger cars first (where, since I'm not adding lights, I lightly soldered across the interior contact strips).
Aw, shoot! Ballasting is FUN! Once I went to Arizona Rock & Mineral all the problems went away...A real shame you're 500 miles away, we could do a good tradeoff. I'm actually not too bothered about resisting the cars, it's just with around 1000 it's gonna take a while. And I agree about the resistoring video, worth it's weight, my thanks for publishing it.
Really Guys. Jim Daryl and Jamie you all have amazing layouts, even if they are only partially complete. HaHa, now my layout is in slow mode. Keep the updates coming Jim, Jamie and Daryl. Helps keep me motivated to go to the layout room when I get home from 15 hr day. JSL
Motivation is the key. Can't think about 1000 cars needing resistors or miles of ballasting needing to be done. Just think about what you can get done to today, keep at it when you have the time and have patience. Eventually those big tasks get done. The Mississippi River crossing on the Geneva Sub is a good example. When I first started on the Whipple bridge, I felt like it would be forever before I got the entire crossing completed. But, I just concentrated on the Whipple bridge and just took it step by step. Now, 2.5 months later, the crossing is nearing completion. Once it is done, I'll probably do some ballasting, yuck! BTW, I agree with Jim that the Arizona Rock and Mineral is great stuff to work with. Daryl
Your signals are great, when you mention adding resistors to cars how do you mean? I have read in NSR how to add RFID's and have a simulated ACI reader..
